


ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Happy Ever After

by SkyChaotic



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Fluff, I'm bad at tagging forgive me, M/M, Made up family members for them, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, This was the first time writing them, battle buddies, happy ever after, jeremwood, possible ooc, this is just super fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-02 06:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyChaotic/pseuds/SkyChaotic
Summary: Rare Achievement: Happy Ever After (100% Complete)Obtain the "Perfect Ending" in Jeremy Dooley's route in "ACHIEVEMENT HUNTER: THE GAME"---So in my Creative Writing class we got to write fanfiction and you know that I had to write about my favorite boys. This story is literally just tooth-rotting sweetness. Hope you guys enjoy.





	ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Happy Ever After

If you had told Jeremy Dooley that he would one day get the job of his dreams alongside his best friend, he would’ve chuckled and replied with a “maybe one day.” If you had told him that the man he favorited most would one day see his as an equal, he would’ve rolled his eyes and playfully punched you in the shoulder and told you to stop kidding around. If you told him that he would one day be getting married to a man he looked up to in both a literal and metaphorical sense, he would’ve laughed in your face and walked away.  
But now here he was, a set of strong arms wrapped around his waist and a man cuddled close to him. It was the night after the wedding, and the two were resting after the long day. Adjusting himself a bit, Jeremy pressed himself closer to his husband, enjoying the warmth that he produced. Married happily with his dream job with friends he saw as family, Jeremy never would have guessed that his life was going to be like this. But let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

It was late, almost one in the morning, and Jeremy was procrastinating his homework. His English professor had assigned him a paper, and it was due the next morning, but he really, really, didn’t want to do it. So, he scrolled through YouTube on his phone, looking for something to entertain him for the night while he tried to motivate himself to work on it.  
As he browsed, he noticed something suggested under the music video he had been half-watching half-listening too. It was a Minecraft video made by a group known as “Achievement Hunter.” Clicking on it, Jeremy braced himself for some cringy group of kids to be screaming with terrible microphones in his ears, however instead, he was met by what sounded like professionals.  
Sitting up in bed, his attention caught, he continued to watch. One video after another, the next thing Jeremy knew, it was four in the morning, and he had a class in six hours. He had practically stayed up all night watching this new group he had found, laughing so hard he couldn’t breath at points. Making note to talk to Matt about the group, he started getting ready for the day, knowing well that he may be tired, but it’d be worth it. After all, he’d just found one of the funniest groups of people on YouTube.  
Within the next few days, he had gotten his childhood friend, Matt, into Achievement Hunter as well. The duo held a similar sense of humor, so the fact that Matt enjoyed them as well was unsurprising. Within the little time the two had gotten into the fandom, they had already entered the community. They both had their favorites as well: Matt’s was Michael while Jeremy’s was Ryan.  
It was a bit surprising for Jeremy to like Ryan as much as he did. The member was the quiet one and had just been added into the group. Most of the community was hesitant about him joining, thinking he didn’t belong, but that didn’t stop Jeremy from enjoying his time in content. He, alongside Matt, also made maps and things of that nature for the group, many of them that they played in their Let’s Plays, much to the two’s surprise and joy.  
A few months into Jeremy and Matt’s dive into the fandom, making them in middle of their senior years respectfully, a convention was being hosted near Boston. A notice went out on the Achievement Hunter website that they were looking for volunteers, and both Matt and Jeremy signed up.  
This began the two’s closer relationship with the members. They volunteered at conventions they were going to, more times than not talking with the members while they worked to help. Most of the time it was Geoff and Jack, the founder and co-founder, however occasionally the duo got to speak with Ray, Gavin, and Michael.  
The only member of the group Jeremy hadn’t yet gotten to meet was Ryan. He was usually busy on the floor, being the one to interact with the fans the most besides Jack. However, he was lucky enough to talk to him at his fifth convention with the group.  
He was help do some last-minute prep stuff for the panel, so it was mostly just being told what to do for the stage. He was setting up one of the seats when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Ryan, who stood at least six inches above him. Jeremy froze up a bit and stood up a bit.  
“Hey, you’re Jeremy, right?” Ryan asked, and Jeremy nodded in response.  
“Did you need something?” Jeremy questioned, hoping he wasn’t off-putting with his tone.  
“No, not really. I just wanted to finally meet you. Geoff and Jack keep mentioning you and your friend Matt, so I thought I’d finally come say hi.”  
“Oh, cool. It’s actually really cool that you took the time out of your day to do that.” Ryan chuckled at Jeremy’s response, and the shorter man could feel his face heat up a bit. His laugh sounded so much nicer in person than through a microphone.  
“Well, seeing as how you and the rest of the volunteers practically help get these shows running, it’s the least I can do.”  
“But you don’t have to. You could always be like Gus and avoid people like the plague.”  
“Well I’m not a complete anti-social like he is.” Ryan responded, grinning a bit. “True.”  
“Jeremy!” Ryan and Jeremy both looked up at the sound of Jeremy’s name being called, and Jeremy quickly noticed Geoff standing on the opposite side of the stage. “You two, c’mere. I need to talk with everyone.”  
Jeremy and Ryan glanced at each other, and Jeremy gave the taller man a questioning look, who simply shrugged in return. Following directions, they crossed the stage where Jeremy noticed the other Achievement Hunter members, as well as Matt, waiting for them.  
“What’s goin’ on boss?” Michael questioning, him lazily leaning against one of the wooden tables that were set out for water.  
“You guys know how we’ve been dealin’ with the idiots who keep asking to join AH?” Everyone murmured agreements, even Jeremy and Matt. Both had witnessed what Geoff was referring to. Achievement Hunter had two openings, both for behind-the-scenes work and occasionally appearances in videos, and these two guys had kept asking to join at every convention. It had gotten to the point where even the audience was getting annoyed with the constant pestering from the two dudes.  
“Well, you all know how we’ve got our hires already picked out, right?” The AH members nodded, though Matt and Jeremy didn’t respond, simply giving each other some side glances. They had heard rumors around the convention that Geoff and Jack had already chosen the two new AH members, but they didn’t know if they were true or not until now.  
“We need to get this out to the convention as well as the people watching the panel and livestream. Which is where Jeremy and Matt come in.” Both men perked up at the sounds of their names and their attention was on the Achievement Hunter leader.  
“Jeremy, Matt, I need you two to ask to join Achievement Hunter.”  
“What?” Jeremy and Matt asked in sync, not catching on to what Geoff was speaking about.  
“Ask to be apart of Achievement Hunter. After you do, I’ll tell you guys that we’ve already hired to new people and have them come on stage. That way, we can both introduce the new members and get people to stop asking.”  
“That makes sense.” Matt agreed.  
“But what happens if the two idiots get there before us?” Jeremy questioned, and Geoff paused. “I…didn’t think about that…”  
“I’ll grab the new guys.” Ryan spoke up, and Geoff look towards him. “You think you can get to them in time?”  
“If I see them in line before Jeremy and Matt, I’ll get off stage and say I’m out of water. Then I’ll grab the guys and have them ready.”  
“Perfect. Now let’s get this show on the road!”

The panel was a good one, as it usually was. Before Jeremy and Matt could even get the signal to head into line, the two guys from before were in line, so they didn’t bother to stand. As Jeremy was listening to the AH members answer questions, he noticed Ryan giving him a questioning side glance. As soon as they locked eyes, Jeremy gestured to where the guys were in line. Ryan, taking notice, nudged Geoff and whispered to him.  
Geoff nodded, and Ryan got up, heading backstage and away from the panel attendees’ eyes. Jeremy and Matt had been told before they sat down to sit towards the walls of the building, so while they could see Ryan pop out of the exit of the stage, most people didn’t notice.  
Ryan approached the two, gesturing for the two come over to him. Jeremy and Matt looked at one another, confusion in their eyes, but did as directed and went over Ryan, making sure they didn’t disturb anyone. Ryan pulled the duo behind the stage curtains, out of sight of everyone except for the people on stage.  
“Yo, what’s going on?” Matt asked, and Ryan didn’t respond. He had his head turned away from them, but eventually he replied.  
“Okay, look. We had this planned out better, but it seems the idiots were really determined to find out about the rumors.”  
“What planned out?”  
“You guys being hired.” Ryan explained, and Jeremy felt his heart skip a beat.  
“H-Hired? As in being hired for Achievement Hunter? For Rooster Teeth?” Jeremy stammered, not believing what he was hearing. Ryan nodded, finally turning his head away from the stage.  
“Yeah.”  
“Holy mother of God are you being serious?”  
“One hundred percent.” Jeremy’s jaw dropped, and he looked at Matt who looked surprised as well. Finally, Jeremy could hear two guys at the microphone. He peaked out a bit, only just enough so he could see the guys asking exactly what he thought they were going to ask.  
“So, this question is for Geoff.” The taller guy spoke, and Geoff sat up a bit straighter.  
“Alright.”  
“We heard rumors going around the convention that you had hired two new guys for Achievement Hunter. Is that true and who are they?” There was a pause between Geoff’s response as he glanced at the trio behind the curtain.  
“You guys ready?” Ryan whispered, and they both nodded. Ryan gave a thumbs up to Geoff.  
“Uh, rumors are true. We did hire two new people.”  
Ryan gestured for Matt and Jeremy to follow him, and they all walked on stage. He could hear the excited squeals and yells from the audience. Many people looked shock, and Jeremy waved semi-awkwardly towards them.  
Michael gestured for Matt to sit next to him, and Matt’s green eyes lit up like it was his first-time experiencing Christmas. Slightly distracted, Jeremy felt his wrist be grabbed and he looked up to see Ryan slightly pulling him towards his seat. He felt heat rush to cheeks, and he sat down beside Ryan quickly.  
From that day forward, he was an official Achievement Hunter.

“Ray quit.” The sentence cut through the air like a knife that was freshly sharpened. Jeremy froze, and looked towards a seemingly exhausted Michael.  
“You’re kidding.” Matt responded, the only one of the two who seemed to be able to get any words out of his mouth.  
“I wish I was. He’s quitting and becoming a full-time Twitch streamer.” Michael responded, sighing as he spoke.  
“Well who’s going to take his place?” Andy, one of the editors, spoke up.  
“Geoff’s calling a meeting soon. From what he’s saying he’s already got his eyes on two.”  
“So quickly?” Jeremy finally spoke up, his voice on the lower end. “Ray’s been really pissed as of late. From what Jack’s told me, he’s been planning on quitting even before you were hired. Guess he doesn’t agree with the fact that Geoff is starting to take AH in another direction and wants to do Twitch full time. I just wanted to let you guys know, so you don’t wonder what happened to him.”  
And as quickly as he entered, Michael left. Before he did, Jeremy saw him give a small glance littered with sadness. Without thinking, Jeremy was out of his chair and following the curly-haired Achievement Hunter.  
“Michael!” Jeremy called after him, and stopped, turning towards Jeremy.  
“Are you okay?” Jeremy asked.  
“What?”  
“Are you okay? You look really upset. I mean, Ray’s your friend and all it’s gotta be rough to just lose him like this.” Jeremy explained, making note of his reasoning.  
Michael opened his to speak, but soon close it. Jeremy could clearly see tears brimming in his eyes. Michael gritted his teeth and mumbled a swear under his breath. Jeremy, without giving it a second thought, threw his arms around Michael, embracing him a tight hug.  
Almost instantly, Michael practically collapsed in Jeremy’s embrace, letting out a couple of choked sobs and whimpers.  
“He…He was one of my b-best friends, and n-now…he…he won’t even look me…me in the eye.” He choked out, and Jeremy gripped onto him a bit harder. Jeremy didn’t speak, knowing that’s not what Michael needed. He was never one to talk about his emotions; he usually just screamed in rage and took out his rage by doing that. He was quick to calm down though.  
Jeremy let Michael vent out his emotions. They were more or less unintelligible sentences and sobs, but just knowing Michael was getting his emotions out and not bottling them up made Jeremy feel better. After another minute or two of sobbing into Jeremy’s shoulder, Michael sniffled and pulled away from him, using the bottom of his palm to wipe the tears on his face.  
“If you ever need me Michael, text me. I’m always here, okay?” Michael nodded, and gave Jeremy a weak smile. “Thanks Lil’ J. I gotta go clean myself up. Geoff said he’s hosting the meeting sometime within the next hour or so and I don’t want to look like a complete mess when I see him and the others.” Jeremy nodded, and allowed Michael to pass.  
Deciding to take a break from editing, Jeremy headed into the break room. No one was in there, as it was a busy day and people usually used their break during the same time as their lunch hour as to have extra time for whatever they were doing. He went into the kitchen, grabbing a water from the fridge before turning towards where a few of the tables were.  
As he took a step, he bumped into someone. Stepping back, he apologized before he even saw who it was.  
“Funny enough I was looking for you.” Jeremy’s head popped up and his dark brown eyes met a set of bright blue ones. He recognized them immediately.  
“Oh crap! Hey Ryan, whatcha need?” He awkwardly chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  
“To thank you.” Jeremy gave Ryan a confused look. “Thank me?”  
“Yeah. I saw what you did for Michael.” Jeremy started to blush a bit in embarrassment.  
“O-Oh? Y-You did?”  
“I did. Michael’s been isolating himself since Ray announced he was quitting AH and we were all getting really concern. But I just past him and he looks ten times than before. He’s like a little brother to me so seeing someone do that for him makes me really thankful.”  
“You see him as a little brother?” Jeremy questioned Ryan’s statement, to which he nodded his head in agreement. “Yeah. I’m one of the few people he openly says he can come talk to about his issues without feeling as if he’s gonna be judged.”  
“But no one here would judge him.”  
“Jeremy…Michael’s got some issues. He’s had them long before he started working at AH and they don’t look to be going anywhere for a while. But the fact that he’s opening up to you is a positive sight to see from him. Let’s just leave it at? Just, thank you.”  
With his ending statement, he walked off, heading back towards the main set of offices. Jeremy blinked a few times and put his hand to his cheek. It felt like it was on fire.  
He had been blushing throughout the entire conversation with Ryan, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he had been caught helping Michael…  
Or if it was because he was talking to Ryan.

It was about two weeks later when Jeremy heard whispers that the AH members had finally come to the decision as to who would be the replacement for Ray in the main six. Jeremy generally didn’t listen to them; if it wasn’t said for him or to him, it clearly wasn’t his business, a lesson he learned early into college.  
He was working on a video, finishing up the final touches when he felt someone watching him. He froze up and glanced over towards the doorway.  
Ryan was leaning against the doorway, watching Jeremy with an emotion he didn’t recognize. Jeremy looked him straight in the eye, and it seemed to catch his attention away from what seemed to be a dream-like state.  
“Did you need something?” Ryan blinked rapidly a few times before realizing he’d been caught.  
“Uh, ah, yeah. Sorry, just got distracted.”  
“Distracted?”  
“I mean, yeah, you look really cute when you get in the zone like that.” Jeremy’s felt the blood run to his cheeks, and he nervously laughed.  
“T-Thanks? But uh, what did you need?”  
“Oh, uh, right. Geoff wanted me to get you. He said he needed to talk to you. Don’t know why he couldn’t have just texted you, but I, uh, don’t mind. Getting you, I mean.” He stammered, and Jeremy nodded. “Okay. I’ll be there in a minute, gotta save what I’ve got.”  
“That’s just pressing two buttons how does it take you a minute?”  
“What?” Jeremy questioned, and Ryan explained.  
“You know you could’ve just pressed Control and S and it saves right?”  
“You’re kidding.” He wasn’t. Just as Ryan said, the program saved his work with just the tap of two simple buttons.  
“Jesus Christ I’m an idiot.” Ryan chuckled. “Nah, just uniformed.”  
“That would make me an idiot Ryan.”  
“Nope, just ignorant. Now we should go before Geoff wonders if we died or something.” Jeremy nodded, and put his headphones on his desk before following Ryan out of the editor’s office and into the main one.  
“There you two are. You tell him anything Ry?” Geoff questioned, and Ryan shook his head.  
“Alright. So, Jeremy, we’ve got a question for you.”  
“Okay…”  
“How would you like the join the main six of Achievement Hunter?”  
Jeremy felt his jaw drop. He stammered over ‘uhs’ and ‘ums’, unable to get a word out. Did he hear Geoff right? Did Geoff just ask him to join Achievement Hunter’s main six? Was this some sort of dream?  
“Uh…are you being serious? Like one hundred percent actually want me to be apart of the group?” He questioned, wanting conformation for what he was hearing.  
“Yep. We’ve been debating over you and your friend Matt for a while, and we all decided to pick you. If you want to, of course.”  
“O-Of course! Why wouldn’t I?”  
“I can think of many reasons.”  
“Shut it Michael.”

Two months. That’s all it had taken for Jeremy to start questioning his sexuality. And it wasn’t even his fault. It was the dirty-blonde blue-eyed hunk of a man who he had to see every day. The two talked even more than before, mostly because Ryan was constantly helping Jeremy out, and Jeremy couldn’t tell if it was because he was the new guy or something else. And he also couldn’t tell if he wanted it to be because he was the new guy or something else.  
The man was seemingly irresistible. He was kind, generous, and caring. He would drop everything he was doing just to help Jeremy, whether it was computer problems or a personal one. He didn’t know why, and as more time passed, it seemed like the others didn’t know either. He had overheard both Jack and Geoff at one point or another question him about his unwavering kindness, to which Ryan would simply brush it off and say something related to Jeremy “being the new guy.”  
For a while the excuse worked. Until Jeremy had been there for a year and wasn’t exactly “new.” The fans had immediately started shipping the pair when they saw how Ryan acted around Jeremy, calling the ship “Jeremwood” or “Team Battle Buddies.” Jeremy wasn’t surprised by the shipping, as he had been warned ahead of time of how the fans were, but that didn’t stop his questioning of Ryan’s actions and himself.  
It was late June, a year and a half after he’d become a member of the main six and two and half years after he had been hired in general. It was a normal day, nothing special or important had happened other than quite a few people leaving early, as it was Friday and they had the weekend off. But for some reason, something felt off. Somehow, somewhere, something, was off.  
Jeremy remembers clearly that his it felt like there was a pressure on him. His hands were shaky, and his breathing irregular at times. Those times? Of course, it was when Ryan was around. This had never happened before. He was able to keep his cool for two and a half years, maybe even more if he counted the conventions, why was he losing it now?  
It wasn’t until Jeremy got home that it whatever was causing him to lose his cool throughout the day that he sat down and thought about what it could be. Was it Ryan? It had to be. He’d been head over heels for the man for so long it had to have been him.  
Wait. Ryan. James. James Ryan Haywood. Dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, slightly tanned skin. He. Him. Dude. Guy. Male. Man.  
The realization hit him like a ton of bricks.  
He was in love with a man. Jeremy Dooley was in love with a man named Ryan.  
He was gay. No, bi? Maybe pan. He didn’t know. He couldn’t think straight. Everything was moving in slow motion. Everything around him sounded amplified yet muted at the same time. Jeremy’s vision was blurry, as if he had rubbed them to harshly but now he couldn’t blink away the blurriness.  
He could see himself stumble through the hallway to his room but didn’t feel anything as he sat down on his bed. His lungs and mouth felt as if they were filled with sand, the roughness making it hard to breath. Nothing seemed to make sense. His body was going numb.  
Was he dying? He couldn’t be. He was healthy. He was fine. What was wrong with him?! The feeling of something wet hitting his jeans caused him to slightly panic. Wet? Water? It had to be water.  
He put his shaky towards his cheeks, feeling the droplets falling from his eyes. Tears. He was crying? Why? What was wrong?  
Where was he? Was he at work? No. In the car? No, not the car. There wasn’t a mirror. No, there was. But it was too big. Too big to be a car’s mirror. He wasn’t in the car.  
Was he at home? It didn’t feel like home. Home was good. Home was happy. He’d have his cat buddies would be here.  
Buddies. That word. It seemed important. Was it important?  
“Jeremy.”  
Jeremy’s brown eyes snapped open, and he found himself face to face with someone. Blue eyes, tan skin, dirty blonde hair. Wait, dirty blonde? How did he know that? He could barely see it, it was covered by his hat.  
His. They were man. Male. Who? Dirty blonde, blue, tan, man. Where was he?  
“Jeremy, breathe. You’re okay. Can you hear me?” They, he spoke. Jeremy searched his face. They had stubble. Just a bit, but it was noticeable. Jeremy searched his face for something. He knew him. Somehow, somewhere, something was recognizable. What was it? Who was he? Where was he?  
“Deep breaths, Jeremy, breathe. You’re okay. Can you hear me?” Jeremy nodded. He was okay. He was okay? No, he wasn’t. But he said he was okay. And Jeremy trusted him. Wait, Jeremy trusted him? Why? Who was he? Why did Jeremy recognize him? Why did he trust him?  
Jeremy could feel his grip loosen. What was he grasping before? His hair. He was gripping onto his hair. His hair was dark brown. He knew that. He was sitting down. James was crouching in front of him.  
James? Who was James? No. Not James.  
“Ryan?” His voice sounded rough and it felt, as if he’d just had a screaming match with someone.  
“Hey, there ya are, buddy.” Jeremy’s sense seemingly flooded him all at once. His hearing returned to its normal state, his vision becoming clearer, and he could breathe at a regular pace. He was sitting on the floor of his bedroom, his side table to his right, nothing to his left. Ryan was crouched in front of him, concern in his eyes.  
“What’re you doin’ here?” Jeremy questioned, his voice sounding slightly desperate.  
“You invited me over. Said to just come in and call for you. I didn’t get a response, so I waited in the living room for about fifteen minutes. I called for you again and when you didn’t respond, I decided to check on you.”  
Jeremy remembered inviting Ryan over. But he wasn’t supposed to be there until seven. Jeremy had just gotten home. It should only be 5:45, 6:00, at most.  
“You weren’t supposed to be here until seven…?”  
“Bud, it’s 7:30.” Jeremy could feel a few tears escape after Ryan said what time it was. How could it be 7:30? How could it have been that long?  
“Hey, hey, look at me. You’re okay. No need to get upset.”  
“What happened?”  
“I think you had a panic attack. My cousin used to get them occasionally, so I semi-know what I’m doing when they happen. Did something happen before I got here? At work? On the way home?”  
Jeremy went to answer but stopped himself. He knew exactly what had caused it. But he couldn’t tell him. It’d ruin everything they had. So, he lied.  
“I’m not sure. It was just super sudden, and I don’t know what caused it.”  
“Are you sure?” Ryan’s voice had worry lingering within it.  
“Yeah, yeah I’m sure.” Jeremy reassured. “Okay. You know, if you have any issues you can talk to me, right? No matter what. I won’t judge.”  
Jeremy wondered how true that was.

After that night with Ryan, Jeremy found it more and more difficult to be around Ryan without blushing or stumbling over his words. His heart raced at the thought of him, and his mind went wild when he was near. With just a glance, Jeremy could feel a shiver down his spine which was hard to cover up. At a single touch, it felt as if sparks were rushing through his veins.  
He didn’t want his stupid emotions to stop their friendship. He didn’t want to ruin things. So, he took his feelings and buried them deep. He put up a wall between his heart and his head, and no matter how much his heart cried out for him to do something, to say something, he refused to listen. He wouldn’t let his heart control him.  
In early October, all the work, all the time that had gone into burying his love for Ryan had seemingly gone to waste. The walls between his mind and heart had been shattered by one simple phone call.  
It was late, around two in the morning, and Jeremy was wide awake. He wasn’t sure why, but he was. He was just having trouble sleeping, it happened. So, he was simply taking it easy to the best of his abilities. However, he was surprised when he received a call.  
He grabbed his phone, popping it off the charger as he answered.  
“Hello?”  
“Hey, are you okay to talk right now?” It was Ryan.  
“Yeah, you okay?”  
“Yeah I just…I needed to talk to you. About something kind of important.”  
“Well I’m all ears.”  
“I…I don’t know what to do. I’ve already talked to Geoff and Jack about this, and they’re encouraging me with this, but I just don’t know.”  
“Ryan?”  
“I care about you so much. I don’t want to screw things up by doing this and I don’t want to lose you by saying something like this.” Ryan spilled out, and Jeremy sat up in his bed.  
“Ryan, whatever it is you have to tell me, go for it. I don’t think I could ever hate you.” There was a pause on the other end, before what sounded like Ryan’s voice came in loud and clear.  
“I’m in love with you.”  
Jeremy felt himself freeze up at Ryan’s words. Ryan’s words? Was this Ryan he was talking to? The man Jeremy thought he’d never have a chance with, telling him he was in love with him?  
“Jeremy, the minute I met you I was head over heels for you. Your smile, your laugh, your enthusiasm, your determination to do whatever you have your mind set to, god everything about you. I know this is probably completely out of left field and you don’t feel the same but I just…even if you don’t feel the same I needed to get this off my chest.”  
Jeremy didn’t speak for a moment, and with a soft voice, he then replied with a simple sentence that he’d never thought he’d say.  
“I love you too, Ryan.”  
Both sides of the line went dead silent at Jeremy’s response. After what felt like a silent eternity, Ryan practically whispered from his line.  
“Can we meet tomorrow? Somewhere to talk?”  
“Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Maybe the King’s Café? We could grab some lunch together or something…”  
“Yeah, sounds good. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”  
“I’ll see you there.”  
Jeremy’s head hit his pillow, and he rolled onto his side. Did that really happen? Was he really going to talk to Ryan? About feelings they shared for one another? Everything felt like a dream.

Ryan texted Jeremy the next morning, at around eight, to meet him there at eleven. Jeremy’s usual morning routine was felt ten times as stressful, and a heavy feeling with in the air as he left the house for his afternoon plans. When he made it to King’s Café, he saw Ryan sitting at one of the tables, nervousness radiating from him. The two locked eyes, and Jeremy took a deep breath and sat across from Ryan.  
“S-So…um, hey?” Jeremy stuttered out, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  
“Hey.” Ryan replied, giving Jeremy a small smile. The short man felt his heart flutter a bit, and he smiled back.  
“Look, about last night…” Jeremy started, though he hesitated to continue, as his mouth felt dry as he searched for the words to say.  
“I meant what I said. One hundred percent.” Ryan spoke up, and Jeremy felt his face heat up. “I-I mean, uh, I di-did as well, but I just, um…just don’t know what to say, I guess? Like what are we now?”  
“Whatever you’re comfortable with is fine with me, Jeremy.” The very thought of dating caused Jeremy’s face to get even redder than before. His mind wandered a bit, his thoughts imagining what the perfect relationship would be. Holding hands as they walked down the street, smiling and laughing on afternoon dates, having dinner under a starlit sky, and ending the perfect day with a kiss goodbye. After a while, they could move in together, and late night and early morning cuddles would proceed it.  
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Jeremy replied. “Ryan I…I’m so in love with you. And after this, after what happened last night, I don’t think I could just be friends with you anymore.”  
Ryan blinked in surprise, then chuckled and smiled. “Well then I guess I should do this the right way then huh?”  
Jeremy giggled, and Ryan cleared his throat. “Jeremy, would you like to be my boyfriend?” The question caused the two of them to burst into laughter, and Jeremy was grateful that the café was so busy, so no one paid them any mind.  
After getting the laughter out of their system, Jeremy locked eyes with Ryan and grinned. “Yes, Ryan, I would love to be your boyfriend.”  
“Perfect. Now you want to get some food? ‘Cause I didn’t eat this morning and looking at the snack across from me made me realize how hungry I was.”  
Jeremy let out a squeak of embarrassment at Ryan’s comment and hid his face in his hands. “Food sounds great as long as you don’t make a comment like that again.”  
Ryan chuckled and nodded. “Alrighty then.”  
The new couple spent another hour eating lunch, discussing whatever topics came to mind and enjoying themselves. It felt like a dream come true for both. After finishing up their unofficial first date, the couple headed out onto the sidewalk for a breath of fresh air.  
“So…what are we going to tell the guys? And the fans?” Jeremy questioned, and Ryan let out a small hum before a devious grin spread across his face. Jeremy cocked an eyebrow at him, a questioning look in his dark brown eyes.  
“We don’t.”  
“What?” Jeremy blinked, confused and surprised. “We don’t tell them. At least not for a little while. I mean, imagine this. We start avoiding each other, acting like things went sour and stuff. We’ll act normal and whatever on camera, but off camera we barely speak with one another, as difficult as that may be.”  
“You’re mean!”  
“No, I’m a genius.”  
“An evil genius.”  
“But a genius none the less.”  
The Monday that Ryan and Jeremy went to work, he could clearly see Geoff and Jack giving Ryan side glances, and occasionally Gavin did as well. It was difficult not to spill what happened over the weekend to Michael, who was the first one to give Jeremy a look of confusion when Ryan walked past without a saying a word.  
The next week, Jeremy and Ryan barely spoke at work, other than for videos. The rest of the main six always wore worried looks if Jeremy and Ryan weren’t recording and were near one another, as if a bomb was on the verge of exploding whenever the two looked at one another.  
It wasn’t until the last day of that week that Ryan and Jeremy were basically cornered by the others about what happened over the weekend. The couple had been in the office, and Geoff had held them back for some reason.  
It wasn’t until Jeremy noticed that Michael and Gavin were glaring at Ryan that he got a clue about what was going on. Jack finally came back from his break, and it seemed their plan was on.  
“So…Ryan,” The dirty blonde looked up at Geoff, and innocent look of confusion on his face.  
“What happened?” Jeremy tensed up at the question, and he covered his mouth to stop anyone from seeing him smiling. Somehow, Ryan continued the innocent act without breaking.  
“Whatcha mean?”  
“You know what I mean. What happened between you two?”  
Jeremy bit the sleeve of his jacket to stop himself from laughing, and he was hiding his entire face at this point.  
“Oh, well uh…that depends on what you mean by asking that.”  
And Jeremy ruined it. He lost it and started laughing into his sleeve, and Ryan gave him a playful glare. The others had confused looks on their faces, and Ryan chuckled a bit.  
“Jeremy!”  
“I’m sorry!” He wheezed, finding it slightly difficult to breath. “Not all of us got degrees in acting Haywood!”  
“Okay I’m so confused.” Gavin spoke up, and Ryan spoke for Jeremy, as currently the brown-haired man was recovering.  
“We’re dating.”  
“You’re bloody what?!” Gavin cawed.  
“Dating. I asked him out Saturday.”  
“Then why’d ya act like ya bloody hated each other for a week straight?” Gavin squealed, and Michael nodded. “Yeah, no kidding. We thought something bad happened between you two.”  
“We’re sorry, but if anything, blame Ryan, it was his idea.” Jeremy finally spoke up, and Ryan gave him a fake betrayed look.  
“Jeremy! You traitorous bastard! How could you?!” The shorter man snickered, and Jack let out of sigh, and Jeremy guessed it was from relief.  
“So you guys are actually dating? This isn’t apart of the joke or something is it?”  
“Nope. We’re actually dating.”  
“I bloody knew you liked him Ryan! Called it back when he first started working here!”  
“Congrats detective, now shoo. We’ve got to finish editing.”  
Ryan and Jeremy had decided before that they weren’t going to tell the fans for a while. They wanted to be steady before they got the backlash they knew was coming with telling a bunch of crazed fans that were prone to getting up-in-arms about their ships. They decided that about a year into their relationship would probably be the best time to tell them.  
That was, until a certain British man blurted something out about the two of them six months in while on a live podcast.  
“So, Ryan, have you met Jeremy’s family yet?” Jeremy choked on his drink when he heard Gavin speak. Ryan tensed up and glared at him.  
“And Gavin is an idiot.” Michael spoke up, and Gavin realized his mistake. “Ah crap, I’ve done it now, isn’t I?”  
“Yeah, no kidding.” Ryan bitterly remarked, and Jeremy stared at Gavin, shock in his eyes. Had he really just said that?!  
“Welp, I’m going to leave that there unless you two wanna explain?” Michael offered, and Ryan sighed before looking towards Jeremy.  
“You okay with it?”  
“Might as well.”  
“Jeremy and I are dating.” Ryan said plainly, taking a swig of his Diet Coke as soon as he finished.  
“Talk about being blunt.” Jeremy joked, laughing at the tone Ryan had said it in.  
“Jesus Christ look at the chat!” Michael commented, and Jeremy took a side glance at the monitor. From the small look he had gotten, he could see comments flooding in from the people watching the live stream.  
“Yeah no kidding, also to answer your question Gavin, no, he hasn’t.” Jeremy replied. He grabbed his phone and made the mistake of turning it on to see almost a hundred and fifty mentions already. Rolling his eyes, he quickly tweeted out:  
Yeah, you guys heard right. @RyanTheTwit and I are dating. Have fun with that info.  
The next week, Jeremy could barely browse through Twitter without a minimum of ten notifications being there at all times.

Another month had passed when Ryan finally brought up Gavin’s comment from the podcast again.  
“Jeremy?” The smaller hummed in acknowledge. He was laid back in Geoff’s chair, resting for a little before they record the next video.  
“You remember the question Gavin asked on the last podcast? About meeting your folks?”  
Jeremy snorted a little.  
“What?”  
“Your southern just came back.”  
“What?”  
“You called my mom my ‘folks.’”  
“Okay, sure, whatever. But in all seriousness, I wanted to know if you wanted to meet my parents? I’m leaving for Georgia in a week, so I kind of need an answer sometime soon.”  
Jeremy froze up, and he looked towards Ryan with a look of shock in his eyes. “You want me to meet your parents?”  
“Well, yeah.”  
“Ryan.”  
“Yes?”  
“Do they know about us?”  
“Dating? Yeah, of course they do.”  
“Do they know we’re both men, Rye?” Ryan opened his mouth to say something, and he began to speak before stopping himself.  
“N-Not exactly?” Ryan replied, sounding as if he was questioning himself.  
“Ryan Haywood, you’re from Georgia. One of the states that are apart of the Bible Belt. As in the most conservative area in America.”  
“I mean, Texas is apart of the Bible Belt to, and there doesn’t seem to be a problem there.”  
“Ryan you’re either the most ignorant person in the world or need to get your eyes checked again because I can count a minimum four times last week that I’ve noticed someone giving us dirty looks.”  
“Jeremy…I really want you to meet them.” Ryan confessed, an edge of sadness to his voice.  
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t meet them.”  
“Wait you’ll meet them?!”  
“Yeah, might as well find out now if my boyfriend’s got homophobes for parents now so I don’t have to deal with it later.” Ryan snickered at Jeremy’s comment, and Jeremy smiled.  
“I’ll let Geoff know we’re leaving Sunday night.”  
“Oh-key.”  
“Hey Jeremy?”  
“Hm?”  
“You know I love you, right?”  
“I love you too, Rye.”

The flight was short, but it felt like an eternity. His anxiety was at an all-time high due to the stress of meeting Ryan’s parents. He wasn’t concerned about what they thought about him, however; It was their reaction to Ryan that concerned him.  
Jeremy knew that Ryan’s parents meant a lot to him. They were super close, as he was their only son since his older brother, Henry, passed away. It was a drunk driver; the guy was beyond wasted and had t-boned Henry. He died on the way to the hospital, and he had only been seventeen. It’s one of the reasons that Ryan hated alcohol, and one of the reasons that Jeremy had stopped drinking as much as he used to.  
On the car ride over to Ryan’s parents, Jeremy had been clutching Ryan’s hand tightly. It was silent in the car, and there was heavy tension in the air. When they pulled into the driveway, they both waited to get out.  
Ryan rested his head on the steering wheel, letting out a shaky sigh. Jeremy placed a hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him. Taking a deep breath, Ryan sat up without looking at Jeremy.  
“Let’s do this.”  
Jeremy nodded, and followed Ryan out of the car. The two headed up to the door, and before Ryan could even knock, Jeremy could hear dogs barking. Ryan knocked, and there was a moment of silence before an older woman opened the door.  
She was taller than Jeremy and had white-tinged blonde hair. Her eyes were a striking blue, almost the exactly like Ryan’s, and he watched as her eyes lit up at the sight of Ryan. She gasped and let out a small squeal.  
“Ryan! Oh, my good Lord you’re here! Come in, both of you!” She gestured for the two of them to enter.  
The moment the two entered, two small dogs came bounding over. One was a black-and-brown Doberman-mix of some sort, while the other was a tan-and-white corgi-mix. They were all over Ryan, and he smiled, his stress seemingly easing at the sight of the two.  
He got down to the ground, allowing the dogs to jump all over him. Jeremy smiled, clearly hearing Ryan laughing a bit as the very excited dogs barked and whined in their eyes.  
The woman who had let them in, who Jeremy guessed was Ryan’s mother, came downstairs with a man in toe. He hadn’t even noticed her leave.  
“Ryan! There you are! We were wondering when you’d get here!” The older gentlemen laughed, and Ryan’s stress seemed to come back at the sound of his voice. He stood up and smiled awkwardly.  
“Yeah, sorry. Traffic was a pain.”  
“Oh no need to apologize!” Ryan’s mother piped in, and Ryan glanced at Jeremy, who was now be stared at by Ryan’s father.  
“Ryan…who this?” Jeremy could see Ryan tense up, and he fumbled over his words, mumbling as he did so.  
“Ryan?”  
“Uh, um…this is, uh, Jeremy…he’s my…my,” Ryan seemed to be shaking as he explained, and Jeremy could see tears in his eyes. “I’m his boyfriend, Mr. and Mrs. Haywood.”  
There was a silence, and finally Ryan’s mother spoke up. “Boyfriend?! Ryan! Why didn’t you tell us about him?! I would like to know who my baby’s datin’!”  
Both Jeremy and Ryan looked up in shock, and Jeremy looked towards Ryan’s father, who had mixed feelings written all over him.  
“I thought…I…”  
“Ryan?”  
“I thought you two would hate me. I really thought that. I didn’t think you’d take it so well.”  
Ryan’s father spoke instead, and Jeremy could see a sad look in Ryan’s mother’s eyes.  
“Hate you? Ryan you’re our son. We couldn’t ever hate you, no matter what. It’s not our place to judge you.”  
Ryan wiped his eyes of the tears that were on the edge of falling, though one escaped him. Ryan’s mother immediately hugged him, and Ryan’s father joined in. After a few moments, they separated, and Jeremy smiled warmly at Ryan.  
“I’m going to clean myself up. Ma, Dad, don’t scare him off, please? I really like him.” Jeremy blushed at his comment as he walked off.  
The rest of the weekend was mostly carefree; however, Jeremy was unnerved whenever he locked eyes with Ryan’s father. The man was intimidating, what could he say?  
Within the next month, Jeremy received a call that surprised both him and Ryan.  
The familiar buzz of Jeremy’s phone caught his attention, and he shifted himself off Ryan to answer it. The two had been hanging out that Friday afternoon at Ryan’s house, and they had settled down to watch a movie. Jeremy wasn’t sure what it was, as it was mostly just background noise as he fell asleep cuddled up against his boyfriend.  
He blinked in confusion at the person who was calling. It was his mother, a very busy woman with a workaholic attitude. She rarely called, especially not out of the blue like that. It wasn’t that she tried to ignore Jeremy, he knew that, but that she just got caught up with what she was doing, just like he did.  
Ryan glanced over at him, mumbling a tired “Who is it?” towards Jeremy.  
“My mom,” Jeremy answered, and he swiped up to answer his phone, putting it up to his ear.  
“Hello?”  
“Hey, sweetheart, how’re you?” His mother’s thick-Boston accent rang clear in his ears, and he sat fully up, much to Ryan’s distaste.  
“I’m alright. Did you need something? You don’t usually call out of the blue like this.”  
“Well, I don’t need anything, but I’m going to be landing in Austin tomorrow morning for some business and I wanted to come see you, if you’re not busy, of course.”  
Ryan seemed to have overheard Jeremy’s mother, and he sat up a bit, attempting to blink a bit of the sleep out of his eyes.  
“Uh, yeah sure, absolutely! Do you need a ride from the airport?”  
“That’d be great. Oh! And make sure you bring that boyfriend of yours you keep mentioning. I wanna meet him!”  
“Alright, Mom. Well, I’ll let you go and see you in the morning, I guess.”  
“Love you sweetheart.”  
“Love you too, Mom.” And with that, Jeremy hung up the phone and placed on the side table before looking towards Ryan.  
“My mom’s flying in and wants to spend tomorrow together. She also wants to meet you.”  
Ryan hummed a bit, and wrapped his arms around Jeremy’s stomach, pulling Jeremy back down and towards him. “That’s great. Now we go back to what we were doin’? I’m tired and want affection.” Jeremy chuckled a bit and nuzzled up to the dirty blonde.  
“Clingy.”  
“Don’t care. I’ve got you.”

The next morning, both Ryan and Jeremy were up bright and early, much to Ryan’s displeasure. The airport was quite busy, and Jeremy looked down at his messages with his mother from earlier that morning. She said she would be at gate 3, and so that’s where they were standing. Ryan had a coffee in his hand and was clearly trying to wake up.  
“Whatever monster decided that late night flights and early morning pick-ups were a good idea should be stoned.” He commented bitterly, clearly annoyed.  
“Stop your whining. I want my mom to have a good impression of you.”  
“Bleh.” Jeremy rolled his eyes playfully and stood on his tip toes to give Ryan a peck on the cheek. “You’re so childish sometimes, you know that?”  
“That’s rich coming from you. What does your mom look like anyways? You’ve only ever shown me older pictures of her.”  
“Think me female and a bit taller and with shoulder-length hair.”  
“You mean like that?” Ryan replied, pointing out a woman in the crowd. Jeremy blinked in surprise and looked at Ryan. “How did you-?”  
“I’m magical. Thought you knew this.”  
Jeremy didn’t respond and instead called out to his mother. She noticed him and waved towards him before slightly pushing her way through the crowd to make it to him. When she made it to him, she hugged him tightly, cooing at him.  
“Ah, look at my little man! You’ve changed so much since you moved down here!”  
“Okay, okay mom, off please.” He begged, whining a bit. She let go, ruffling his dark brown hair. “So…where’s your boyfriend?” She questioned, and Jeremy sighed a bit.  
“That’d be me.” Ryan spoke up, and she looked up at him. “Oh! That’d make you Ryan Haywood then, right?”  
“Indeed.”  
“Oh Jeremy, you got really lucky! Not everyone gets to date their idol!” Jeremy’s face went bright red, and Ryan cocked an eyebrow.  
“Mom!” He growled, embarrassment written all over his face.  
“Idol?” Ryan questioned, and before Jeremy could get a word out, his mother beat him to it.  
“Oh, back when Jeremy first found out about Achievement Hunter he used to talk about you constantly! He kept saying how much he adored you in videos!”  
Ryan smirked, and glanced at the beet red Jeremy with a mischievous look in his eye. “Oh, really?”  
“Mhm! He idolized you so much when he was younger. I even think he based one of his characters off you!”  
“Mom please!” Jeremy whined, embarrassed.  
The rest of the day was filled with Ryan and Jeremy’s mother talking about embarrassing things Jeremy did he was younger. They drove her to her hotel room, where she would be staying until the next morning. The drive home was filled with Ryan poking fun of Jeremy, who was red-faced throughout the entire time.  
Nothing seemed to happen until four years into their relationship, other than the two moving in together. Jeremy was now sat in the office during lunch, working on his story, something he usually did when he had free time at work or when he wasn’t doing something at home.  
The sound of his phone vibrating against his desk caught his attention, and he looked down to see a text from Michael.  
Yo lil J where you at  
Office.  
Why tho it’s lunch  
Needed some quiet time to write. You need something?  
Can you come to main room in like 20?  
Sure why?  
Michael didn’t respond, but he saw the text. Shrugging, Jeremy got back to work, not thinking much about the conversation. He did, however, make note of the time and silently reminded himself to watch out for it.  
After about fifteen minutes had past, Jeremy got up and stretched. He hated the idea of being late, so he decided to leave a few minutes early. He shut his laptop, packing it into his bag and laying it on the couch. He’d seen what a stray moonball had done to Gavin’s phone a week before, and he didn’t want to pay another six hundred dollars for a new laptop.  
He headed out of the office, taking a quick peak into the editor’s office. He cocked an eyebrow, making note of the fact that no one was there. It wasn’t odd for most of the people to be out for lunch, but usually a few people stayed back to get more work down and since someone usually brought them back good.  
Continuing down the hall, he noticed how most of stage five was quiet. He didn’t anyone on his way to the main room, however when he got there, he was greeted by Jack  
“There you are.”  
“Yeah. What’s going on?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well I haven’t seen anyone but you all the way from the office to here. Like, none of the editors are there either.” Jack shrugged, not giving an answer, and walked back towards the main room. Jeremy quickly followed Jack, not satisfied with the lack of the answer, however before he could get his question out, another one popped into his head as he entered the main room.  
All the members of Achievement Hunter were there, as well as the editors and Burnie and Gus. Burnie looked up at the sound of the door opening and shutting behind Jeremy, and he elbowed Gus, who glared at him until he noticed Jeremy walked in.  
Gus stood up and cleared his throat. “Well, let’s get this show on the road.” He nodded towards where Ryan and Geoff were sitting, whispering to one another. When Ryan looked up, he froze at the sight of Jeremy, and Geoff elbowed him. “Go on you idiot.” He teased, and Ryan stood up, slightly shuffling towards Jeremy.  
Jack had gone and sat next to Geoff, and several people had their phones out and Jeremy guessed they were recording. “Ryan? What’s going on?” Jeremy cautiously asked, and Ryan chuckled nervously.  
“Uh, well, I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but everyone was bust so it took a while to get everyone in the office here, seeing how everyone watched to watch this happen.”  
“Do wha- Oh my god.” Jeremy cut himself off as he watched Ryan get on one knee. He pulled out a velvet box from his jacket pocket and spoke.  
“Jeremy, as I said before, you are the love of my life. The day I met you, I fell head over heels for you. From that day, I didn’t want to lose you. And now, you being here with me, with everything we’ve been through, the though of it hurts more than every time I’ve been hit with a moonball or almost stabbed with of the many knives in the AH office.”  
The room erupted in giggles at his line, and Jeremy could feel tears brimming in eyes. He could feel a few escape, and he used the sleeve of jacket, a jacket he basically stole Ryan, wipe the tears from his eyes, though more quickly took their place.  
“Jeremy Dooley, will you make me the happiest man alive and marry me?”  
A silver band was revealed in the black velvet box. It had gems, sapphires from what Jeremy could guess, encrusted in it. As if a damn had just busted, Jeremy felt tears rain from his eyes even faster than before. He choked on his words, his hands covering his mouth and he tried to stop himself from letting out sobs. Barely able to speak, he nodded approvingly, and choked out one word.  
“Yes.”  
Everyone cheered at Jeremy’s approval, and Ryan stood up, allowing Jeremy to tackle the man in a hug without making him fall to the ground. He happily sobbed into his shoulder, clutching onto him as if his life depended on it.  
“Tumblr is going to have a fucking field day with this one.” Michael commented, and Jeremy flipped him off.  
Pulling apart for a moment, Jeremy could see Ryan was crying as well, a giant smile on his face. Ryan used his thumb to wipe away Jeremy’s tears, and brought him into a kiss. The couple separated, both smiling.  
“Best day ever.”  
“So far.”  
“Shut up.”  
The wedding was planned for about a year later. They wanted it to be held in the early spring, though no one was quite sure why. Some had theories as to why, but most didn’t care.  
It was three days after the engagement when Ryan called Jeremy into the living room, mentioning something about the two of them being on the news.  
“So, what happened?” Jeremy asked, flopping onto the couch next his fiancé.  
“We hit headlines, dear.” Ryan responded, setting his laptop on the low table in front of them to show Jeremy what he was talking about. On the screen, a news website was opened, and a video paused. Ryan played the video.  
“The internet has gone wild with this recent story. A well-known group of internet gamers known as the Achievement Hunter have had a recent engagement within their group. Two of the main hosts of the show, Ryan Haywood and Jeremy Dooley, were announced engaged on Wednesday. Many members of the LGBT community are celebrating the news, as it shows the progression of our times.”  
Ryan stopped the video, and Jeremy blinked in surprise. “Huh, you weren’t kidding when you said we hit headlines.”  
“Nope. It aired last night after you went to bed. My Twitter can speak for that.” Jeremy giggled, and glanced down at his left, his smile softening at the sight of the silver band.  
“We’re really getting married.” Ryan hummed and nodded, pulling the shorter closer and into his embrace. “Yeah, yeah we are.”  
“I’d never thought I get this.”  
“Engaged?” Ryan questioned, and Jeremy shrugged.  
“That’s part of it. I never thought I would get this ending. A happy ever after.”  
“Well, guess we’ve unlocked that achievement, huh?” Ryan chuckled, and Jeremy giggled.  
“Achievement unlocked, happy ever after. Sounds like something that would be an achievement. Which game do you think?”  
“No idea. All I know is that I’m tired and having my fiancé with me, which means cuddle time.” Jeremy rolled his eyes but pressed himself to Ryan.  
“You’re so lucky I love you.”  
“I know.”

The day of the wedding came faster than Jeremy had expected. It hadn’t even seemed like a year had past, but there he was, dressed in a stunning tuxedo with his best man attempting to calm his pre-martial jitters and anxiety.  
Jeremy paced the room, shaking with nervousness. Matt, his best man, placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “Hey, calm down. You’re fine and everything’s been taken care of.” He comforted, and Jeremy let out a shaky sigh, moving his hands to cradle his head. “I know I just can’t help it. It just…I’m marrying Ryan Haywood. I’m getting married.”  
“Yeah, yeah you are. And that’s great. But seriously, your mom wans to see you and I don’t want you to be a complete mess when she comes in.” Jeremy chuckled and slapped Matt’s arm playfully.  
A knock on the door caught both Matt and Jeremy’s attention. “Must be her.”  
Matt went over and answered the door, and Jeremy took a deep breath to calm his nerves to the best he could. His mother walked in and gasped, her hands covering her mouth. “Jeremy…”  
He could hear the pride in her voice, and she quickly made her way to him, tears brimming in her eyes. “Look a you…my baby dressed up for his weeding.” Jeremy chuckled, embarrassed. Being the only child of a single mother made the two form a close bond, though that didn’t stop Jeremy from getting embarrassed from his mother’s teasing and pride.  
“How long till we start?” Jeremy asked, and Matt spoke up. “Five minutes, which means your mom and I need to take our places. Geoff should be here in a few. Go luck amigo.”  
And with that, Matt left, though Jeremy’s mother stalled a bit, giving Jeremy a peck on the forehead and a quick “I love you.”  
As quick as they came, they were gone, leaving Jeremy alone again. He took a deep breath and looked himself up and down in the mirror. He looked his best thanks to Lindsay and Gavin, who had helped him get ready. The thought of the members of Achievement Hunter reminded Jeremy about the fact that Geoff was going to walk him to Ryan.  
The older man had been a father-figure for Jeremy sine he joined Achievement Hunter. Jeremy had never really had a father in his life, as his mother never got into another relationship after the failed one with his father. It seemed like the thought of Geoff was enough to summon him, as the creaking of the door and shutting behind someone caught Jeremy’s attention.  
In a suit and tie, something Jeremy had only ever seen him in once before, Geoff was standing before him. “You ready, Lil’ J?”  
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”  
“Let’s go then.”  
Jeremy could hear the music playing as he waited for his and Geoff’s cue to walk in. He shuffled his feet a bit, and he heard Geoff chuckle beside him. “Relax Jeremy. If Ryan see you as nervous are you are, he’s probably going to be even worse off.”  
Just as Geoff whispering to Jeremy, their cue was signed to them and they started their walk.  
Jeremy had to stop his jaw from dropping as he entered with Geoff. The decorations were even more stunning than he thought they would be, and all of his friends were dressed incredibly. He could see Matt waiting as his station and Michael beside Ryan.  
Ryan. The man looked incredible, his hair neatly put in a small ponytail going down his back and his dark blue eyes were locked on Jeremy. Jeremy could feel his face heat as he noticed everyone was looking at him, and Geoff squeezed his arm comfortingly. Finally, they reached where Ryan was standing, and Jeremy let out a small shaky breath as he looked at Ryan. The two, on instinct it felt, interlocked hands, their eyes not separating from one another. Jeremy could see tears edging his eyes, and the very thought caused tears to brim in Jeremy’s.  
The man speaking was practically drowned out in Jeremy’s head. All he could focus on was the man in front of him. However, when it came time for the engaged to speak, Ryan went first.  
“Jeremy, when I first met you, I had no idea that I would one day be standing here. During that time, I was going through silent hell, a mental prison of my own making. I felt trapped, and that no one cared. But then you walked in, key in hand, and freed me. Today, and every day until the day I die, I promise to always be by your side. I swear on everything I have and everything I am that I will do everything I can to make you happy and to protect you from any harm that may come your way. Today, I vow to always be with you, through thick and thin, through sickness and through health, through anything that comes down our path. I love you, and nothing can ever change that.”  
Ryan’s voice cracked a bit as he finished, clearly trying his best to hold back his tears.  
“Ryan, even though I’m a writer and I’m supposed to be good with my words, but there’s no way I can explain my love for you with words. When you walked into my life, you changed everything. Your laughter brought me the most joy in my life and without you, I doubt I’d be the man I am today. I promise that I’ll walk by your side for the rest of my days no matter what. Nothing can come in between us. I love you so much, and I don’t think I could ever stop.”  
A tear fell from Ryan’s face, and he quickly wiped it away. The officiator cleared his throat and continued.  
“From this day forward, I now pronounce two to wed. You may now kiss the groom.”  
Ryan cupped one of Jeremy’s cheek, and brought him into a kiss. It felt magical as magical as the first time. As the two separated, the church cheered, and Jeremy pressed his forehead against Ryan’s, finally letting the tears that had had been holding back out.  
“I love you, Ryan.”  
“I love you too, Jeremy.”


End file.
